Synergies between Surface Microstructuring and Molecular Nanopatterning for Controlling Cell Populations on Polymeric Biointerfaces

Abstract

Polymeric biointerfaces are already being used extensively in a wide set of biomedical devices and systems. The possibility of controlling cell populations on biointerfaces may be essential for connecting biological systems to synthetic materials and for researching relevant interactions between life and matter. In this study, we present and analyze synergies between an innovative approach for surface microstructuring and a molecular nanopatterning procedure of recent development. The combined set of techniques used may be instrumental for the development of a new generation of functional polymeric biointerfaces. Eukaryotic cell cultures placed upon the biointerfaces developed, both before and after molecular patterning, help to validate the proposal and to discuss the synergies between the surface microstructuring and molecular nanopatterning techniques described in the study. Their potential role in the production of versatile polymeric biointerfaces for lab- and organ-on-a-chip biodevices and towards more complex and biomimetic co-culture systems and cell cultivation set-ups are also examined.

Soft-Lithography of Polyacrylamide Hydrogels Using Microstructured Templates: Towards Controlled Cell Populations on Biointerfaces

“…In addition, visualization procedures will be easier, when a single and open textured biointerface replaces a multi-layer microfluidic system. In some cases the employment of additional surface functionalizations may be needed, especially if other processes and materials are employed, as shown in recent research by our team [38].…”

A Review on 3D Architected Pyrolytic Carbon Produced by Additive Micro/Nanomanufacturing

“…[70,71] Micro-stereolithography, mainly through two-photon polymerization (2PP), has fostered very relevant discoveries in materials science, especially regarding the emergent field of metamaterials and metasurfaces, [78][79][80] and constitutes a very successful technology for achieving complex-shaped MEMS/NEMS with innovative features and integrated functionalities, [81,82] as well as for achieving multi-scale micro/nanodevices, by combining it with other lithographic processes or molecular patterning techniques. [83,84] As happens with SLA-based structures, 2PP or DLW objects can be pyrolyzed to achieve PyC with highly precise designcontrolled features and to reach submicrometric feature sizes of PyC, leading to nanoarchitected PyC. Examples of several nanoarchitected PyC, particularly mechanical metamaterials with differ-ent unit cells (discussed in detail in Section 4.1), are presented in Figure 5.…”

Eph/Ephrin-Based Protein Complexes: The Importance of cis Interactions in Guiding Cellular Processes

“…Another approach of patterning to cell adhesion is nano-patterning with the deposition of either biocompatible materials or adhesion molecules on a biopolymer support. This strategy allows the experimenter to spatially control cell adhesion and manipulate the substrate surface properties in order to tune cellular responses (e.g., cytoskeleton rearrangements or modulation of transcription) to different biochemical signals ( Spatz and Geiger, 2007 ; Díaz Lantada et al, 2020 ). Micro-patterning can also be exploited to investigate cellular responses to microenvironment topography in terms of cell migration.…”